LibWorm.com provides a librarian RSS filtering service. Over 1500 RSS librarian sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest headlines from journals and sites in the Graphic Literature interest group. http://www.libworm.com/rss/librarianqueries.php Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:07:22 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://wplbookclub.blogspot.com/2016/04/louis-riel-comic-strip-biography-by.html In 1869, the Red River Settlement area, home to the French-speaking Metis, is sold to the Canadian government. Louis Riel, the de facto leader of the Red River Settlement, demands that they be granted the right to govern themselves. Not suprisingly, the government refuses this. This story relates Riel's resistance to the Canadian government's mistreatment of the Metis community.Louis Riel - Wikipediahttps://owa.fibrehost.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_RielLouis Riel - rethinking Riel (CBC Archives)Louis Riel - Trivial Pursuit (CBC Archives) Place a hold on a WPL copy of the book here. (Source: WPLBOOKCLUB) Wed, 20 Apr 2016 04:00:00 +0100 377637 http://www.tangognat.com/2008/11/21/norton-will-eisner-library/ Here are short takes on some paperback reprint volumes from Norton’s Will Eisner Library. The Dreamer (amazon) This is a short graphic novel that serves as a fictionalized autobiography of Eisner’s early years working in the comics industry. There’s an extensive section of notes on the back that explain some of the events and provides thumbnail biographies of many of Eisner’s fellow cartoonists who make appearances in The Dreamer. This comic provides a series of brief sketches of the rough and tumble world of the early comics business, with underpaid artists, opportunistic businessmen, and problems with printing presses. Eisner doesn’t shy away from portraying his analogue as naive. While Bill E remains steadfast in his dreams to follow his artistic ambitions, he’s not great with women. The Name of the Game (amazon) The focus here is on three generations of Jewish families, all striving to better themselves through advantageous marriages. The upper class Arnheims in New York marry to get access to more money while the midwestern banking Obers long for big city society. Money definitely doesn’t bring happiness. Even when Rosie, the third generation Arnheim, rebels and decides to marry a poor Polish poet for love her marriage ends up turning into a parody of her parents’ relationship. Sometimes I thought Eisner had too much story for the space of the comic format, he solved this issue by incorporating blocks of text that were interspersed with the comic panels, providing additional information about the characters. I was interested to read about the class distinctions between Jews that came to the United States from different countries. Will Eisner Reader (amazon) This volume collects short stories that provide a sampling of the variety of Eisner’s work. A man is forced to retire and move to Florida by his daughters, but retirement isn’t what he expected. ... Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:28:50 +0100 675108 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SellersLibraryTeens/~5/458467316/contest.pdf If you are a fan of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney, enter the Do-It-Yourself comics contest! It's really simple. Just use one piece of paper to make an original comic on any topic you like. Anyone ages 6 to 16 can enter, and entries are being accepted until January 31, 2009. And, you don't have to be a great artist...remember, Wimpy Kid is essentially illustrated with stick figures! If you win, Jeff Kinney will come to your school and make you an original comic. If you are one of the 30 runners up, you will get a signed copy of the new Diary of Wimpy Kid DIY Book. Not a bad deal! (Source: Sellers Library Teens) Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:53:08 +0100 674549 http://kidslit.menashalibrary.org/2008/11/kin.html The Good Neighbors: Kin by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh Holly Black, author of amazing urban fairy tales, is now collaborating on a graphic novel series.  Rue's mother has left, leaving her father deep in despair.  Rue herself has begun seeing strange things that no one else notices.  As she looks deeper into her mother's history, she learns that what she is seeing is real and that mortals can't see these strange creatures or fairies that surround them.  Of course, because she can see them, it means that she too isn't a mortal creature. Black has always written captivating novels for teens filled with angst, darkness and strange creatures.  In the graphic novel format, she stays true to her previous writings: something that will delight her fans.  Naifeh's art is a great match to Black's story.  His use of angular features and interesting perspectives all done in black and white will draw readers in. Highly recommended for all graphic novel collections, this book will be a hit with fans of Black's novels as well as fans of Melissa Marr's popular books.  Teens will look forward to the next in the series. (Source: Kids Lit) Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 674718 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/textundblog/~3/457359992/ Der spanische Comic-Zeichner Paco Roca (Valencia, 1969) gewinnt den Nationalen Spanischen Comic-Preis, den mit 15.000 € dotierten Premio Nacional del Cómic. In der Jury sassen unter anderem Miguelanxo Prado (von dem hier schon einmal im Zusammenhang mit dem «Trailer “De Profundis”» die Rede war), Rogelio Blanco Martínez (director general del Libro, Archivos y Bibliotecas, zu dt. etwa: Abteilungsleiter für Literatur, Archive und Bibliotheken im Kulturministerium) sowie der Vorjahressieger Max (siehe mein Artikel aus dem Vorjahr: «Prämierter Comic-Zeichner Max im El País-Chat»). Laut Roca, der dieses Jahr auch schon beim Salón del Cómic in Barcelona für Arrugas (siehe Abbildung, Info FNAC) eine Auszeichnung erhielt, befindet sich der spanische Comic auf einem guten Weg. Interessant ist auch das Zielpublikum, an das er sich wendet, nämlich die Generation seiner Eltern: Él asegura que su secreto es dirigirse a gente como sus padres, “a los que no les gustan los cómics”, algo que ya están haciendo otros autores para atraer público. “El manga y la novela gráfica están captando nuevos lectores -señala-, pero por encima de los superhéroes hay que construir obras que interesen a todo el mundo”. Mehr dazu in El País: «Roca: “El cómic en España está en su mejor momento”». Siehe auch El Mundo (die das Preisgeld - wie die meisten anderen Quellen auch - mit 20.000 € veranschlagen): «El dibujante valenciano Paco Roca obtiene el Premio Nacional de Cómic por ‘Arrugas’». Zum persönlichen Hintergrund des Comics Arrugas: Papelenblanco: «Arrugas, un cómic sobre el Alzheimer». (Source: Text & Blog) Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:11:57 +0100 674397 http://www.tangognat.com/2008/11/17/amethyst-princess-of-gemworld-8-second-series/ This issue is the halfway point of the second mini-series. It features the final confrontation between Amethyst and Fire Jade aka the late Lady Emerald. Also, Citrina wakes up for some cosmic magical shenanigans. The cover shows a giant spectral Amethyst and Fire Jade slugging it out over the Emerald Castle while a crowd looks on. The text on the cover proclaims “From Death a New Beginning!” and the title of the issue is “Rebirth.” The Gemworld has a unique approach to video conference calling. Amethyst, Prince Garnet, and Princess Emerald are talking to the other nobles through some purple bubbles that show their disembodied heads. Lord Ruby thinks that Prince Garnet is mistaken, but Amethyst believes him. She’s called everyone together to tell them that Fire Jade is really the Lady Emerald. For some reason Lord Garnet isn’t there, maybe they are saving the big reunion scene with his son for later? Lady Topaz, charming as ever, suggests that Amethyst has gone mad because Lady Emerald is dead. There’s a bunch of exposition from Prince Garnet outlining why Lady Emerald has returned from the dead as Fire Jade. Then he drops a tidbit of information that explains why the storms and Citrina’s illness are linked. Citrina didn’t discover the Gemworld, she actually created it out of bits of magic from different worlds. She was the most powerful sorcerer of Earth when she was young. (As always, click to make the images bigger) Fire Jade’s plan of creating storms to weaken the Gemworld’s magic and sending Sardonyx to kill Citrina had one goal - the total annihilation of the Gemworld. If Citrina dies the Gemworld will cease to exist. Prince Garnet warns that he expects Fire Jade to attack the Emerald Domain first, because she’ll be strongest there. If they fail to fight her off the other nobles must prepare their own defenses. ... Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:28:04 +0100 673768 http://creativelibrarian.com/795/just-a-funny/ PC and Pixel free online library at comics.com. - Comics.com (Source: Creative Librarian) Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:38:33 +0100 674131 http://www.goblin-cartoons.com/2008/11/17/who-lurks-in-the-swamps/ When I was a kid, I wrote and drew a lot of comics. It was one of my burning passions, and I still kick myself for giving up drawing. (I gave it up because it got too hard. I didn’t want to have to practice, I just wanted to be able to draw the things in my head. Giving things up because they got too hard was pretty common for me, I’m sad to say.) Through multiple moves and the usual purging of possessions, all the comics I did as a kid are lost–except for one, which I’ve somehow managed to hold on to. It’s deteriorating, though, so I scanned it in to preserve it. And so I present…Swamp-Man #2! It’s crude, it’s goofy, but it’s all mine, and I’m still very proud of it. (One of the main reasons why I’m doing NaNoWriMo this month is to reconnect with that comic-making mindset I had as a kid. Hence the posting of this now.) (Source: the goblin in the library) Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:00:06 +0100 673650 http://newpagesblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/updates-newpages-listings.html New Literary Magazine Guide Listings Gander Press Review – fiction, poetry Chaotique - comics, fiction, essay, hybrid Solo Café – poetry, book reviews (Source: NewPages Blog) Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 674123 http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/2008/11/te-punga.html Thanks to Hazel Edmunds of http://www.adsetsinformationweblog.blogspot.com/She pointed me to Kathryn Greenhill's blog, who in turn was highlighting the work of people at the University of Aukland. Kathryn made a video of Liz Wilkinson talking about a tutorial on how to use the Voyager catalogue, Te Punga. Liz Wilkinson talks about the way in which it was designed (with help of learning and web designers) and the reason why they take the approach of incorporating elements which are graphic-novel-like. Kathryn calls her video Information Literacy: Seven ways to think outside the box and identifies the main headings as: Literacy beyond text; Student centred, not library centred; Outside experts; Involve students; Use students' environments; Learning by doing; Make students feel at home.The Youtube video is at http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=pMvAfVV41tQ , Kathryn's blog is at http://librariansmatter.com/blog/ and Te Punga is at http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/instruct/tutorials/voyager/toc.htmlThe photo is of Christine Bruce and Li Wang, during Christine's visit to Aukland University earlier this year (not connected except as regards information literacy and Aukland University. I am not sure who took the photo.) (Source: Information Literacy Weblog) Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 673676 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1228 Unshelved is brought to you this week by World of Quest, Volume 2. When I brought home the first volume of World of Quest my son Theo grabbed it from me and never returned it. He still reads it through at least once a month. It was made into an animated TV show which I've never seen, but which reportedly strayed a little bit from the original comic. Well author Jason T. Kruse has come up with a sequel which comes out next month, and Theo and I are both looking forward to it! Posted by Bill on 11/16/2008 9:18:00 PM (Source: Unshelved) Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:27:02 +0100 673310 http://www.slaw.ca/2008/11/16/batman-turkey-sues-warner-bros/ It’s not the first time a city or location is suing for intellectual property in its name.  But it’s probably the first time a major blockbuster has been the target of the lawsuit. The city of Batman, located in eastern Turkey, is named after the river by the same name that flows into the Tigris.  Both the river and the oil-producing city derive their name from the adjoining Bati Raman mountains. Batman is known around the world for a much more popular comic book character, turned into blockbuster film.  The $1billion box office sales for the Dark Knight, the second highest ever, is probably what prompted the suit. Huseyin Kalkan, the Kurdish mayor of the town, is preparing an interesting statement of claim, including psychological damages.  He attributes a number of unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate on the film’s success. The town is not without controversy, as many of the suicides are attributed to honour killings.  Kalkan himself has been jailed for support of the Marxist-Kurdish terrorist organization also operating in northern Iraq, the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party).  The Caped Crusader would probably have his hands full in the town that shares his namesake. Vehbi Kahveci, head of the Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights Commission of the Istanbul Bar, stated that Batman (the character) and its related logos are already registered around the world.  Kalkan’s claim is also limitations barred, probably by several decades. Jonathon M. Seidl of Patrol Magazine said, …do all the Springfields in the U.S. get to sue FOX and The Simpsons? Or do all the Springfields get to sue one another? Or maybe Hell, Michigan should sue the Devil. Or what about Garfield, New Jersey, Archie, Missouri, or Henry, Illinois? The case would have a difficult time making a claim at common law (just for fun). ... Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:26:02 +0100 673329 http://lovetheliberry.blogspot.com/2008/11/you-gotta-fight-for-your-right-to.html Sunday, 1-3 PM. Busy!--Wants to be on the waiting list for DVDs of Mamma Mia (#175) and Step Brother (#134), and “the book from that TV show about blood, True Blood or something?” -- Is Kill Bill based on a book? --Where are the Arabic books?--Phone: Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems and Change Your Mind, Change Your Life by Daniel Amen--A lady named Lind-Z says “I want to request Hancock (#288) and Tropic Thunder (#201) plus a DVD with “real dirt” on Watergate. Also Judge Judy’s Greatest. Find it! I watch her every day! (sorry, we don’t have it, just her books.) Oh no! No pick-me-up today? Also, does KL still work here? (No, she retired.) Oh, I had so much fun with her!”--Looking for Oct. 30 newspaper from nearby city--Jobs section of the paper, and books on refrigeration--Gospel of Philip--Swamps and metals in Iraq--Cashflow notes--Books based on horror movies or soap operas--Headphones don’t work--How to copy and paste--Books on plumbing--Can I switch computers with the person on #5? I want to be next to my daughter. (You can ask them when they come…)--Can’t find One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. “I checked everywhere.” We have 3 copies on shelf.--Consumer info on GPS devices--Reset PIN--Person on #5 turned out to be her son. So that worked out.--Is the first Twilight book in? I want to reread it before I see the movie. (HAHAHAHA. Almost 450 holds on about 150 copies.)--Do you mind if I steal some of this scratch paper? --Can I order a book here? (Yes!) Okay, Twilight on the Line: underworlds and politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border. (no holds on that one)--Why doesn’t the back button work?--Why can’t I download Yahoo Messenger on my home computer? (I don’t know.)--Where can I donate a queen-sized mattress?--Buffy Season 8 comic book--Latest Consumer Reports (Source: Love the Liberry) Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 673423 http://bibliotecarioanarquista.blogspot.com/2008/11/english-reading-groups-in-portuguese.html Todos sabemos que não existem muitos romances gráficos em língua portuguesa e que, por esse motivo, é difícil constituir clubes de leitura à volta da BD e das Graphic Novels nas nossas majestosas bibliotecas. Contudo, podemos (na perspectiva do gestor optimista) transformar este problema numa oportunidade? Sim, podemos. Basta copiar os modelos de clubes de leitura em línguas estrangeiras (português, inglês, italiano e francês) das nossas vizinhas bibliotecas espanholas e aplicar à nossa realidade. Clubes em que se pode juntar a aprendizagem informal de línguas estrangeiras, a promoção da leitura em geral e no caso a promoção de leitura (e quebra de preconceitos…) de romances gráficos e banda desenhada.E lembrei-me de tudo isto apenas porque li há pouco o fantástico “Chicken with plums” da iraniana Marjane Satrapi, uma obra-prima que relata os últimos oito dias de vida de um músico Nasser Ali (tio avô da autora) que um dia decidiu, simplesmente, morrer… (Source: O bibliotecario anarquista) Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 673366 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2008/nov/16/graphic-short-story-prize-greenberg A runner-up in our graphic short story competition, from Isabel Greenberg (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:05:15 +0100 673047 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2008/nov/16/graphic-short-story-prize-haworth-booth Emily Haworth-Booth's runner-up in the 2008 Observer/Cape Graphic Short Story Prize (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:05:11 +0100 673048 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2008/nov/16/graphic-short-story-prize-julian-hanshaw The winner of the 2008 Observer/Cape Graphic Short Story Prize, from Julian Hanshaw (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:05:10 +0100 673049 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/15/literary-episodes-of-drunkenness Lucky Jim, by Kingsley AmisIneffectual academic Jim Dixon must give a lecture on "Merrie England" to local dignitaries. He nervously gulps whisky before he takes the stage and disaster is ensured. As he reads his lecture he finds himself helplessly adopting peculiar accents, culminating in something akin to "an unusually fanatical Nazi trooper". Bang goes the career.Henry IV Part 1, by ShakespeareDown at the Eastcheap tavern Falstaff has fellow topers on the roar. While drunk, he loquaciously celebrates drink. "It ascends me into the brain ... makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery and delectable shapes; which delivered o'er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent wit."Money, by Martin AmisAmis's narrator, John Self, is a heroic self-abuser. In the first chapter he is drinking Californian wine in "vases", Chablis in "quarts" and rum in "pints". He adds some champagne and passes out, "one happy yob".The Way of the World, by William CongreveOne of the few comic female boozers in English literature, Lady Wishfort keeps large supplies of cherry brandy and ratafia (a liqueur) in her dressing room. When her maid arrives with a small china cup, the grande dame scoffs: "Dost thou take me for a fairy, to drink out of an acorn?"The Corrections, by Jonathan FranzenBarbecuing family supper, vodka-addled Gary Lambert sets the grill on fire. He trims the hedge and severely lacerates himself. Creeping to the liquor cabinet to tip more vodka down his throat, he suddenly notices that he is being monitored by his teenage son's surveillance camera. No secrets in this family.The Power and the Glory, by Graham GreeneThis is boozing as a heroic sign of humanity. Greene's "whisky priest" needs brandy to keep himself brave. He is drunk for much of the novel. "A little drink will work wonders in a cowardly man. ... Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:16:51 +0100 672679 http://darth-libris.livejournal.com/82501.html Barack Obama collects comics. Specifically, Spidey and Conan. It's official: our President Elect is a geek. (Source: Darth Libris) Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:50:33 +0100 672532 http://www.infotogo.com/users/index.asp?RSS=32326 "Every month Karen Green, Columbia University’s Classics Librarian and Graphic Novel selector, describes her experiences developing one of the first collections of graphic novels at an acad... (Source: Info To Go: Navigating the Internet) Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:02:00 +0100 672273 http://lisstlouis.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/ll-chat-cassandra-stokes/ Recently, I sat down to talk with Cassandra Stokes, the Digital Projects Librarian at Washington University in St. Louis, to learn what digital projects the office is currently working on and what she does in a days’ time. What is a typical day like for you? Urban Books website created by Digital Library Services at Washington University My days are really varied and my focus shifts every couple of months from one area to another. There are always emails to answer, library related events to attend, and committee and collection work. Other than developing digital projects I serve on a number of library committees, mostly related to usability and increased access to electronic resources. One I’m currently working on is the Next Generation Catalog Overlay Committee in which we have been reviewing products such as Aquabrowser, Primo, and Endeca. We will be implementing one of these products shortly. In my position I also have the opportunity to attend many non-library related conferences, such as Digital Humanities, TEI Members’ Meeting, and the Chicago Colloquium on Digital Humanities and Computer Science. I found the Digital Humanities conference to be especially good because it brings together librarians, faculty, and students involved in Humanities Computing projects. What digital projects are you working on? We have many projects under development, but one that I’ve been spending a lot of time on lately is the Urban Books project. We partnered with a faculty member at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts who teaches a course on Urban Books. They had previously received a grant to develop an artists’ books collection and we’ve been helping them create a digital version of the original books along with artist supplied tags or keywords. The digital collection includes graphic novels for the students to use in their study as well as student created books that are a final project of the course. ... Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:41:16 +0100 672652 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/451925919/ Canada’s Quill & Quire Blog has a short article by Nathan Whitlock in which he says: Peter Darbyshire, author and columnist for Vancouver’s The Province, has decided to set free his first novel, Please, by making it downloadable from his website. Please, which was originally published by Raincoast in 2002, won the ReLit Award for Best Novel, as well as the K.M. Hunter Award for Best Emerging Artist. On his blog, Darbyshire writes that he decided to make the book freely available because copies of it were becoming hard to come by through traditional retail channels. (Though it is still technically available online at Amazon and elsewhere.) Nathan then goes on to say that “More and more authors, such as Cory Doctorow, are opting for the free route right off the bat, figuring that a wide readership is better than the paltry income likely to come from a regular publishing deal. “ Cory responded to this in a comment: “I don’t figure ‘that a wide readership is better than the paltry income likely to come from a regular publishing deal.’ Nothing could be further from the truth! Instead, I figure that giving away e=books sells more of the print books that I sell through my regular publishing deals with publishers such as Tor (my novels), Avalon/Perseus (my short story collections) and IDW (comic books).” (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:08:29 +0100 672188 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TameTheWeb/~3/451893090/ Kathryn Greenhill reports on Liz Wilkinson, University of Auckland, presenting at the LIANZA 2008 conference:  I was very impressed with an information literacy package she had helped to design. Te Punga uses online graphic novels and simulations to introduce students to the library catalogue. I was even more impressed with her philosophy behind the design - and I have tried to capture this in this movie, Information Literacy: Seven ways to think outside the box. She was very gracious about being filmed with no rehearsal time, and I’m very grateful to her and the University Of Auckland for allowing me to use her words and screenshots from Te Punga in the movie. Here are her main points: 1. Literacy beyond text 2. Student centred, not library centred 3. Outside experts 4. Involve students 5. Use students’ environments 6. Learning by doing 7. Make students feel at home How are we addressing these important points in our university libraries? I can identify good examples for all 7 above from some of my travels and visits to various university libraries this year. Which ones have you tapped into? (Source: Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology) Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:37:25 +0100 672180 http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2008/nov/13/beano-lord-snooty-comics Regular readers of The Beano will know that one of its traditional characters is no longer with us. Lord Snooty has passed on. I don't know how it happened, having stopped reading the great British comic when I was, oh, about 20 and only recently come back to it. Perhaps he choked on an extra-large plate of sausages and mash, or perhaps he was lynched by art lovers irate at his attempt to sell off the ancestral collection of Titians.Other classic characters still rule the Beano - Dennis the Menace is still cover king, the Bash Street Kids are still driving Teacher nuts. You can still read Billy Whizz, Roger the Dodger and Minnie the Minx. The free gifts are amazing and so menacing that different versions have to be sold at airports in case someone hijacks a flight with a Beano catapult. There is now a second comic, Beano MAX, if you also want games reviews etc. The traditional Beano was read by good little boys and girls fantasising about being menaces and minxes. Beano MAX looks like it's for actual delinquents.So what about poor old Lord Snooty? Ah well, the upper-class character has not simply been abolished. Aristocracy survives in The Beano in the person of Lord Snooty III, inheritor of the Snooty fortune and embodiment of modern wealth. That's right, The Beano is the home of acute social satire. Lord Snooty's world of toffs and hounds has of course long gone. So instead we have Lord Snooty the Third who terrorises his staff by riding his quad bike and driving a train through the house. He is modern, he is style-conscious, and he's still a bastard. In fact he treats underlings much worse than his feudal forebear ever did.Cartoonists looking for ammunition against David Cameron's Tory party might want to consult Lord Snooty the Third. Meanwhile The Beano goes on, a comic with so much character it proves Marvel and Manga never had all the best outrage. Keep menacing.DesignComicsguardian.co. ... Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:33:48 +0100 672056 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/13/roald-dahl-funny-prize-stanton A stinky old man who hates children, wildly inventive new vocabulary and wickedly amusing line drawings … ring any bells? Andy Stanton has won the first Roald Dahl Funny Prize with Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear, the fifth book in a darkly funny series that follows in the footsteps of the master of madcap humour commemorated by the award.It is only a couple of years since Stanton arrived on the children's book scene with You're a Bad Man Mr Gum!, set in a town called Lamonic Bibber. There the eponymous nasty old man and a horrible butcher hatch a dastardly plot to do away with the village dog. Since then Stanton has won, among other prizes, the Red House children's book award and has been shortlisted for the Guardian's children's book award.Stanton has previously acknowledged the great debt he owes to Roald Dahl, both for the slightly retro English setting of his Mr Gum tales, as well as the offbeat humour, but has also namechecked a couple of slightly less obvious influences - The Young Ones and The Simpsons - "for its sheer speed and irreverence". In a neat turn of the circle, a TV animation series based on the Mr Gum stories is now in development with Nickelodeon. Dahl's granddaughter, Sophie, one of the judges of the prize, described Mr Gum as "everything the Roald Dahl Funny Prize was invented for: outstanding, original, ageless and irreverent fiction married with the madcap illustrations of David Tazzyman". The prize was founded by the children's laureate, Michael Rosen, as part of his efforts to put the fun back into reading."I have sat on judging panels before and what happens is that the funny books get squeezed out, because somehow or other they don't tackle big issues in the proper way," Rosen told guardian.co.uk's Alison Flood earlier this year. "They'll get through to the last four or five books, and then historical fiction, or something about death or slavery or new technology will win out. ... Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:53:26 +0100 671998 http://www.infotogo.com/users/index.asp?RSS=32325 "As a Columbia University librarian specializing in medieval and ancient history, there was no reason for Karen Green to lead a charge championing the medium of comics and their role in higher ed... (Source: Info To Go: Navigating the Internet) Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:01:00 +0100 671811 http://researchquest.blogspot.com/2008/11/searching-for-story-getting-more-out-of.html Over the last week or so, Chad Boeninger, from Library Voice, and I discussed the game Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow for the Sony PSP.  Both Chad and I finished the game this week and spent some time talking about the narrative of this game and other games in the Syphon Filter series.Without giving anything away (even if the game is over a year old), we both wanted more out of the narrative.  The game's story was written by novel and comic author Greg Rucka .  The game is full of plot twists, terrorists, and covert government agencies which feels right at home for the universe of special ops agent Gabe Logan.  These political / military thrillers are also right at home in the novels of Rucka.  This combination made me excited about the potential of the game's story.  And this anticipation also effected my initial impressions on the story.The outline of the story itself is really solid and the narrative arc flows well for the game.  My disappointment was in the lack of details and depth portrayed through the cut scenes.  Big events and twists would happen that felt out of the blue.  Alliances shifted and evidence was presented that moved the plot forward but lacked a clear explanation and rationale.  I wanted more from the story because I was so invested in the outcome.After talking with Chad about the narrative and running theories and story gaps past one another, I realized what I missed.  The key to fully understanding the twists of the story came from the evidence I mentioned above.  Throughout the game you, as Logan, can find hidden evidence files in each level.  Sometimes these are appropriately placed in file cabinets or on computer desks.  Other times they are very "gamey" and hidden on high ledges or out of the way locations.  Regardless of where these files are hidden they hold the key to fully grasping the story.  The player has the option of reading through the files found in each level from the menu screen. ... Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:46:00 +0100 672659 http://kidslit.menashalibrary.org/2008/11/janes-in-love.html Janes in Love by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg This book follows The Plain Janes and continues the celebration of unique teens and the power of art.  Each person is falling in love, though Jane is having problems deciding which boy is right for her.  Each character approaches courtship and romance differently and entirely true to themselves.  And every one of us has a Jane that they can relate to most.  I am definitely the rounded drama kid. Rugg's art captures the the story using interesting perspectives.  I particularly enjoyed the art with the dresses in the parking lot.  This second novel builds on the themes of the first, including the power of teens and their right to expression.  No one can come away from this graphic novel without feeling jazzed up about art, teens and life.  Because we can each see ourselves in one of these teens, we know ourselves a little better too.  Recommended for tweens and teens.  I'd like to see a copy in every school library and public library. (Source: Kids Lit) Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 672224 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1225 A big old party is brewing down Florida-way. The Miami Book Fair has been growing by leaps and bounds every year, but this year there's something new: Comix Galaxy, a whole street devoted just to comics, manga, and graphic novels. And along with it, special programming and panels involving such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Brad Meltzer, and Scott McCloud. And, of course, we'll be there, in our last conference appearance of the year. Gene and I will be signing books, and we'll have a selection of merchandise from our store, at great conference-only prices. We hope you'll come join the party! Posted by Bill on 11/12/2008 10:47:00 AM (Source: Unshelved) Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:16:02 +0100 671547 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LibrariansMatter/~3/450200384/ I met Liz Wilkinson from the University of Auckland at the LIANZA 2008 conference: Poropitia: Outside the Box. I was very impressed with an information literacy package she had helped to design. Te Punga uses online graphic novels and simulations to introduce students to the library catalogue. I was even more impressed with her philosophy behind the design - and I have tried to capture this in this movie, Information Literacy: Seven ways to think outside the box. She was very gracious about being filmed with no rehearsal time, and I’m very grateful to her and the University Of Auckland for allowing me to use her words and screenshots from Te Punga in the movie. Here are her main points: 1. Literacy beyond text 2. Student centred, not library centred 3. Outside experts 4. Involve students 5. Use students’ environments 6. Learning by doing 7. Make students feel at home (Source: Librarians matter) Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:24:43 +0100 671364 http://libraryninja.livejournal.com/269044.html I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed that I once did this accidently.http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20061125Not using LavaLife but still, my life was once cartoon-ish.Now it's an episode of design on a dime. (Source: Dojo of the Library Ninja) Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:44:02 +0100 671278 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TameTheWeb/~3/449658654/ Jens Bang Petersen / Musikbibliotek.dk / Gentofte Bibliotekerne writes to fill me in on somehting we discussed in the Next Generation Libraries panel at ILI in London - taking the library to users! Hello Michael We talked briefly at ILI2008, where I told you I was one of the librarians that visited the beach with a mobile ‘library’ this summer. You can see a small video made by the local newspaper/tv-station here: http://pola-dk.qbrick.com/index.aspx?cid=43&mid=631 and an article here:http://www.villabyerne.dk/article/20080802/ARTIKLER/670743420/1048 This is our take on the library on the beach: very informal with books, comics, magazines that we do not need delivered back, and therefore we lend out without a return date. Deliver back when you have read the book. And if they do not deliver back – well we earned some goodwill. But we wanted to keep it simple, no computer equipment and the borrowers did not need to bring a card. The other library in Denmark who did were more formal, they worked it from a caravan with registration of who borrowed what. Who knew we could take the library to the beach? Any US libraries doing this? (Source: Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology) Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:48:05 +0100 671200 http://instructionwiki.org/Talk:Bad_title aIaGbQzAe6 New page Good day cool websites <a href=http://ringtones.blackwidowhosting.com/gambit/40/index.html>portable clip fan m</a> <a href=http://unsecuredloan.freewebspace-us.com/yale/02/index.html>abti university american s</a> <a href=http://unsecuredloan.freewebspace-us.com/yale/105/index.html>university of louisville w</a> <a href=http://andfat.freewhost.com/29/index.html>tablet 723 plendil q</a> <a href=http://acaiberry.cataloghosting.com/34/index.html>brite site and y</a> <a href=http://snowhite12.fr33webhost.com/47/index.html>sarafem pmdd for t</a> <a href=http://kitchen.cataloghosting.com/pizza/21/index.html>domino's pizza perkasie t</a> <a href=http://anatrimdiet.blackwidowhosting.com/43/index.html>amitriptyline hcl y</a> <a href=http://diskus25050.101freehost.com/26/index.html>for weight acupuncture q</a> <a href=http://unsecuredloan.freewebspace-us.com/yale/132/index.html>yale school university t</a> <a href=http://diskus25050.101freehost.com/48/index.html>vittadini allegra adrienne r</a> <a href=http://herpes.free-site-host.com/soft/17/index.html>64 paxil settlement l</a> <a href=http://ringtones.blackwidowhosting.com/gambit/46/index.html>antonio texas san k</a> <a href=http://acaiberry.cataloghosting.com/03/index.html>augmentation doctors breast j</a> <a href=http://matthews.hostmo.com/monitor/30/index.html>dual monitor citrix s</a> G'night For admin: if you do not want to receive advertisements, send email to email entraz@comic.com (Source: Library Instruction Wiki - Recent changes [en]) Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:23:54 +0100 671570 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/SellersLibraryTeens/~3/448553303/hello-from-pala.html I am at the Pennsylvania library conference right now! Last night, I heard comic book author Jimmy Gownley talk about his journey into comic book creation and got him to sign all of my Amelia Rules! books. I heard Jimmy speak again this morning about his Kids Love Comics website. I love his books, and he is a hilarious and engaging speaker. Even though the books are for younger kids, you should totally read them. This afternoon, I am presenting a program on teen programs, so I will be talking about you!! I hope people will come...there is an author panel at the same time featuring Jerry Spinelli! (Source: Sellers Library Teens) Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:09:38 +0100 670821 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1223 One of my cartooning heroes is Art Spiegelman. He's best known for the Pulitzer prize-winning Maus, but he does lighter fare too. Recently he started up Toon Books, which makes comic books for kids. His newest book is Jack and the Box. Have a look-see (requires Adobe Reader). Posted by Bill on 11/9/2008 10:32:00 PM (Source: Unshelved) Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:25:02 +0100 670517 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LawLibrarianBlog/~3/448823270/obama-trivia.html From the Telegraph, 50 things you might not know about Barack Obama. Here's a sample: He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics. He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream.... (Source: Law Librarian Blog) Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 671310 http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2008/11/diversion.html Your result for The Find Your Philosophical Era! Test...The Modern31% Ancient, 6% Medieval, 38% Modern and 25% Post-Modern! Congratulations! You are: a Modern!(Keep in mind, by Modern, I mean the era which began around the 17th century and ended in the 20th century.)Throughout the Modern era, philosophers and scientists were forced constantly to do battle with the forces of censorship, philosophical conservatism, and pure inertia.This was the age in which “innovation” was a bad word, and the Moderns were all about innovation. Despite all the opposition they faced, Modern philosophy is the most optimistic of any era. The Moderns seem really to have believed that, for instance, giving men freedom from kings and priests and tyrants will make men happier and better. Their goal was a political community based on reason. But while some Moderns concentrated on becoming more and more scientific, rational and civilized, others, such as Wordsworth and Rousseau, reacted against this trend by turning back to what they saw as the pure, uncorrupted truths of nature. However, the Romantic and the Scientific trends in Modernism are two sides of the same coin. The two are united in their disdain for the status quo and for social norms, and their search for more real, trustworthy truths upon which to build the new society they all dreamed of.Some modern philosophers: Newton, Voltaire, Bacon, Hume, Rousseau, Hobbes, La Rochefoucauld, La Bruyère, Darwin, J.S. MillSome modern artists: Da Vinci, Molière, Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw, Mozart, Cervantes, SwiftTypical modern art forms: opera, comic plays, portraiture, the concerto, the confessional memoir, descriptions of natureTake The Find Your Philosophical Era! Test at HelloQuizzyFunny that I've mostly studied mediaeval and ancient philosophy, yet my outlook is modern and I scored REALLY low in the mediaeval category. YKWIA, who told me about this quiz, came out as mediaeval, which didn't surprise me. ... Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 671269 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/09/jonathan-bate-shakespeare Over the past decade alone, biographies of Shakespeare have been published by writers as disparate as Peter Ackroyd and Stephen Greenblatt, Bill Bryson and myself, with more refined offerings from James Shapiro and Charles Nicholl. Germaine Greer has mounted a spirited apologia for his oft-maligned wife, Anne. All began by deploring the practice of deducing details of his character, values and curriculum vitae from his writings, then proceeded, in differing degrees, to do just that. Jonathan Bate takes pride in proving himself the exception.Bate's earlier study, The Genius of Shakespeare, styled itself a biography of the poet's 'talent and reputation'. Now, 11 years later, Soul of the Age purports to perform the same service for his 'soul', by which Bate means his 'life, mind and world'. Inevitably, the two volumes overlap to some extent; occasionally, they contradict each other. What the two books do have in common is an illuminating parade of their author's considerable learning, not always worn lightly, and a refusal to stoop to the level of life writing, or cradle-to-grave biography, whose 'besetting vice' is its 'deadening march of chronological sequence'. This does not spare the reader a high quota of 'may well have' and 'my guess/hunch is that', an occupational hazard in this field. And every so often, Bate catches himself wandering off-message, as in his theory of the transformation of Shakespeare's doctors from comic figures to professionals of more substance after the poet's daughter married a 'mature and learned' one in 1607.Bate's manifesto otherwise gives him the freedom to flit from topic to topic, poem to poem, play to play, expertly analysing the literary, intellectual, historical, political and cultural contexts in which Shakespeare was writing. He divides his book into seven sections, unashamedly based on the 'Seven Ages of Man' speech given to the melancholy philosopher Jaques in As You Like It. ... Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:04:57 +0100 670228 http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=1697 The Jetson’s Skypad Apartments by Fort Belknap College Library Author comments: The Future Awaits You @ Your Library - While the Jetsons provided a vision into the future, libraries provide information to help YOU make YOUR vision a reality ======= What is it? An annual contest run by the library-themed comic strip Unshelved to see who can best pimp, trick, or otherwise improve a standard book cart. Libraries and schools often stage kids and/or teen programs to generate entries. Prizes are provided by Unshelved and this year’s sponsor Smith System. Smith System is delighted to partner with Unshelved for the 2008 Pimp My Bookcart contest! (Source: Librarian) Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:34:34 +0100 670416 http://hedgehoglibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-robe-of-skulls-by-vivian.html The Robe of SkullsVivian FrenchVivian French is currently best known among the little girls of La Crosse Public Library's Children's Room as the author of the incredibly popular Tiara Club series. These are short chapter books about a boarding school for princesses, with a dose of manners and friendship and mean girls tossed in. I recommend them to parents moving out of the Disney princess phase because, occasionally too insipid for words or not, good manners are a focus. Also, at the end of the day the friends are friends again...though one always hopes the more passive of the bad twins will shake off the more active of the pair and turn into a decent person.Anyway, Tiara Club aside (apologies--I've read about a half dozen of those books), French's new book came out recently and I was torn. The reviews were pretty positive--the cover I found a turn off. (Madame Director and I do not agree on the cover.) So it followed me home and landed in the wicker basket that houses library books at Chez Hedgehog (if they go anywhere else they get lost among my books).The tale is a lightly romping fractured fairy tale. An "evil" but aging sorceress, who seems to mostly be permanently bad-tempered, desires a stunning new dress. But how will she pay for it? At the same time a young girl is trying to escape an evil step-father and step-sister and the younger of twin boy princes is trying to determine his own independence. It's a toss up of "because a, then b" and "then x happened, which was good--well yes, but it's also bad." There's a troll servant but he's a pathetic comic creature that one pities and chuckles at rather than fears.What I noticed the most was consistency of author's voice. And to some degree that's not a compliment. It was immediately apparent to me that I was reading the same writer behind the Tiara Club series and I'd hoped for something a little more mature. ... Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:37:00 +0100 670176 http://instructionwiki.org/ILI-L_Discussion:_Evaluation_forms_including_student_learning_measures/index.php eKgHbYdLj5 New pageAs friends live? good health for you <a href=http://drinkgallon.webng.com/47/index.html>kahlua mixed drink v</a> <a href=http://drillmakita.aspone.cz/19/index.html>drill 60 bit s</a> <a href=http://hondagenerators.free-site-host.com/18/index.html>home generators diesel r</a> <a href=http://drilldriver.100megsfree8.com/57/index.html>non alcoholic french i</a> <a href=http://drinkwater.byethost33.com/60/index.html>bastard drink suffering g</a> <a href=http://drinkgallon.webng.com/20/index.html>drink fines driving m</a> <a href=http://nursingcourse.friko.pl/22/index.html>article nursing newspaper u</a> <a href=http://foammattress.bravehost.com/13/index.html>foam bodipedic memory z</a> <a href=http://nursingcourse.friko.pl/11/index.html>wi rn madison g</a> <a href=http://genitalherpes.2pn.org/19/index.html>herpes virus simplex q</a> <a href=http://nursingcourse.friko.pl/44/index.html>polypharmacy critical and q</a> <a href=http://axiaenrollment.110mb.com/44/index.html>rice university galileo c</a> <a href=http://www.hairloss.ugu.pl/16/index.html>for medium haircut t</a> <a href=http://drillmakita.aspone.cz/04/index.html>battery rechargeable drill e</a> <a href=http://nursingcourse.friko.pl/23/index.html>nursing nj lpn h</a> We will be glad to see you For admin: if you do not want to receive advertisements, send email to email entraz@comic.com (Source: Library Instruction Wiki - Recent changes [en]) Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:16:14 +0100 670378 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/mleggott/loomware/~3/446521766/conors-comics-1.html I have the pleasure of seeing my son Conor on campus at UPEI on a regular basis. He is a 1st-year student who is enjoying the stimulation of a university environment. He also enjoys doodling and exercises that itch by drawing a comic on my office whiteboard a couple of times a week. I look forward to walking in to my office and seeing his latest creation, so I thought I would share them via my blog. Here is the 1st one I managed to capture. (Source: LoomWare) Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 670514 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/RandomMusingsFromTheDesert/~3/445930532/but-but-what-happens-next.html In case you haven't already read: the last issue of Rex Libris was released at the end of October. "Titans clash and chaos reigns as the most powerful evil forces on earth find themselves embroiled in a life and death struggle with the freshly awoken minions of Cthulhu. Team Librarian is caught in the middle of the mayhem, and it will take all their ingenuity and experience to survive!" Things were already tricky at the end of Issue 12... I have to know what happens next!I own every issue, the first trade collection, the figurine, the Tshirts... what will I spend my mad money on now?!? (Do you have mad money? Spend it here.) I'm off to my local comic book store to pick up - and then cancel - my standing order. I'm hoping for a second trade collection from Mr. Fabulousness, James Turner - the extras were worth it - and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the mused-about Rex Libris movie will actually, really happen.I (Source: Random Musings from the Desert) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:37:00 +0100 670281 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/audio/2008/oct/21/wodhouse-jeeves-wooster John Crace pops into the Drones' for a swift squizz at a comic masterpiece (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:58:28 +0100 669689 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iRcS/~3/445643092/friday-brain-teaser-from-credo.html The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Superheroes. Answers here.1. Which superhero's real name is Bruce Wayne? His assistant is Robin, the Boy Wonder.2. Which superhero was born on the fictitious planet Krypton and also leads an ordinary life as newspaper reporter Clark Kent?3. Which comic strip hero is this: his real name is Peter Parker; as a youth he was bitten by a mutant animal; and his costume is a red and blue uniform decorated with black webbing?4. Which US comic-book superheroine was created in 1941, has a costume suggestive of the star-spangled banner, and is armed with a magic lasso?5. What does mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner change into when he is stressed?6. Which spaceman hero, created in 1934, has a series of adventures on the planet Mongo with his girlfriend, Dale Arden?7. Which red-suited, tough-muscled superhero of American comics is nicknamed "the Big Red Cheese"? His magic word is "Shazam".8. Which US children's animation featuring an inept superhero and his streetwise cat was first shown on British television in the mid-1970s?9. "I Am the Law" is a line associated with which comic-book character?10. Which actress had her first starring role as the superhero Storm in "X-Men" (2000)? (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:28:22 +0100 669817 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iRcS/~3/445631643/british-cartoon-archive.html "The British Cartoon Archive is located in Canterbury at the University of Kent's Templeman Library. It has a library, archive, gallery, and is a registered museum dedicated to the history of British cartooning over the last two hundred years. It holds more than 130,000 original editorial, socio-political, and pocket cartoons, supported by large collections of comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines. The collection of original artwork dates back to 1904 and includes work by W.K.Hasleden, Will Dyson, Strube, David Low,Vicky, Emmwood, Michael Cummings, Ralph Steadman, Mel Calman, Nicholas Garland, Chris Riddell, Carl Giles, Martin Rowson, and Steve Bell, amongst many others" (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:13:26 +0100 669818 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1217 Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a big fan of Orson Scott Card and specifically Ender's Game. He recently teamed up with Marvel to produce a comic version, and both Gene and I were really very impressed with the first issue. Now you can read it for free online, courtesy of Tor books Check it out! Posted by Bill on 11/4/2008 3:34:00 PM (Source: Unshelved) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:58:02 +0100 669634 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1219 Karen Cutter of the Nesbit School Library created this cool zine (in the shape of an old checkout card inside its pocket) for a workshop last summer and used some of our comics (with permission) inside. One of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Thanks Karen! Posted by Gene on 11/5/2008 9:07:00 AM (Source: Unshelved) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:58:02 +0100 669631 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1220 We've added a lot of new readers lately, so I'd like to take this chance to tell and/or remind you about some Unshelved features: My favorite way to read comics and blogs is by RSS feed, specifically via Google Reader. It means going to one website instead of dozens. Follow this link and follow the directions to get started with Unshelved's RSS feed. If you already get our main RSS feed, you may not know that we have a second feed for Drop-In Titles, our service for finding out about books that were released too late to get into catalogs. If you can't get enough of my blatherings, you can always follow my Twitter feed, a stream-of-conciousness dump of my brain, combined with witty back-and-forth with fellow Twitterers. It's a good time. Warning: I censor myself substantially less on Twitter. And, in case it isn't manifestly obvious, we have a store. Our books and merchandise are not only awesome, they are the way our readers help support us. Have a look around and see if anything appeals. Now back to our regularly-scheduled comic strip. Posted by Bill on 11/5/2008 8:49:00 PM (Source: Unshelved) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:58:02 +0100 669630 http://tecnicalia.com/2008/11/07/tec_timemap-visualiza-el-lado-oscuro-del-planeta-desde-dashboard/ Timemap es un sencillo widget que nos muestra la hora actual de cada ciudad que seleccionemos pudiendo además ver las zonas de día y noche. Dicho widget va actualizando y si lo dejamos visible durante el atardecer veremos como pasa de la luz a la oscuridad de la misma forma que podemos ver a través de nuestra ventana. Es una forma muy visual de saber si están despertando o a punto de acostarse los habitantes de dicha ciudad. En Applesfera ya os comentamos una aplicación similar llamada OSXPlanet. Y digo similar porque ésta no es un widget sino un generador dinámico de fondos de pantalla, basados en los planetas del sistema solar, que cambian según la hora del día y la proyección desde donde tengamos la vista. Vía | Cool OS X Apps Descarga | Timemap En Applesfera | OSXPlanet Via: Applesfera Articulos relacionados: Descubre el lado oscuro con el trono del Emperador (y colócalo en el salón, no en el servicio, gañán)nvivo, Widget para seguir los conciertos en EspañaEl lado oscuro del salvapantallas FlurryEl lado oscuro de la luzfreeComics, un widget para mostrar comics en tu Dashboard (Source: tecnicalia.com) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:23:09 +0100 669671 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=Permitted_and_prohibited_desires__mothers_comics_and_censorship_--- Boulder, Colo : WestviewPress, 1996. HQ 18 J3 A43 1996 HQ 18 J3 A43 1996 (ON SHELF) (Source: pligg - all) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:00:31 +0100 669473 http://www.tangognat.com/2008/11/06/american-presidents-by-david-levine/ American Presidents by David Levine (amazon) American Presidents provides a study of American history in the form of caricature through a selection of works from David Levine of the New York Review of Books. Although I’ve seen his caricatures before, this was my first time sitting down with a collected volume of his work. The book is more expansive than the title suggests, because the drawings also include portraits of presidential candidates, cabinet members, and supreme court nominees in addition to the caricatures of the presidents. Some of my favorites were Eleanor Rosevelt’s face perched on a swan’s body, the legacy of the Kennedy hairdo, and Nancy Regan as a nutcracker with a walnut clenched between her teeth. I enjoyed the artist’s commentary printed below some of the pieces, and I wish that the commentary section had been expanded a bit because it was interesting to read about which caricature prompted death threats and which the political figures were the easiest to draw. This book is coming out later this month, so it would have been impossible to collect extensive caricatures of the most recent presidential campaign by the time it went to press. The final chapter presents quick portraits of many of the people who ran for the president in 2008, including Rudy Giuliani, John Edwards, Hilary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama. I was curious about a dramatic shift in technique used for the Obama drawing until I read a Vanity Fair article that reports Levine is going blind. American Presidents is a worthwhile survey of a political cartoonist’s career. This book is a good pick for public and academic libraries wishing to add to their collections of political cartoons. Review copy provided by the publisher. (Source: TangognaT) Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:31:15 +0100 669787 http://bclyaknow.blogspot.com/2008/11/wordstock-book-fest-this-weekend.html Check out the Wordstock Book Festival this weekend at the Convention Center in Portland!All things literary: Author readings, lectures, workshops, discussion panels, book booths, Adult authors, Children's and Young Adult, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Graphic Novels...SATURDAY SCHEDULE:http://www.wordstockfestival.com/#/page_id=111&article=482/SUNDAY SCHEDULE:http://www.wordstockfestival.com/#/page_id=111&article=483/ (Source: YA KNOW @ BCL) Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 669380 http://clpteens.blogspot.com/2008/11/spanish-language-titles-at-carnegie.html Did you know that crepusclo means twilight in spanish? Well, now you do, because the Teen Department at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main, has a brand new Spanish Language collection. We have fiction, non-fiction, and graphic novels, including all of the titles in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. We were inspired to create this collection by the non-English language collections in the Adult and Children's Departments here at the Carnegie Library in Oakland. You can find Hindi, Arabic, German, and more alongside the Spanish titles in those departments.Stop by and check it out!Nosotros esperamos verle aquí.All the best,Holly (Source: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Teen) Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 669573 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LibrariansMatter/~3/440764744/ LIANZA 2008 has continued to be an open, warm and intellectually stimulating conference. I liveblogged the sessions I attended on CoverItLive, so there is much more detail here (keynotes) and here (individual sessions). Did I mention that the conference committee have provided free wifi iin return for liveblogging? Thank you very, very much for this. A nice win/win situation. Here are the main ideas that took my fancy today: 1. Keynote - Professor Mason Durie. Talked about transformational leadership and the need for people to be Future Makers (proactive) rather than Future Takers (reactive). He talked about 5 contexts in which future leadership will take place and gave a New Zealand perspective on these: Demographic transitions Changes to Technology Information Avalanche Economic Transitions Globalisation Leadership for tomorrow will require leaders who can look outside their own institutions and make connections and community. He talked of many leaders and I saw a common theme - these were all people who could make links with business for economic support or community groups for social support. Professor Durie suggested that maybe leadership will become a separate career in the future - people with qualities needed for future leadership are hired  specifically to lead, rather than getting people who have been in the organisation for a long time and have risen to the top. 2. Charlotte Clements and Timothy Greig talked about two Instant Messaging projects set up among four universities. They had teams evaluating chat reference - one looking at proprietary purpose-built library reference software and one looking at Open Source solutions. They chose to test QuestionPoint (OCLC) and VRL plus (sirsi dynix) from the vendor based software and look at Psi, Trillian and Meebo for the  Open Source. Eventually they decided to implement meebo - straight away - without a trial. No stats on the usage yet. ... Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:47:41 +0100 669666 http://outofthejungle.blogspot.com/2008/11/vote.html Click on the link above to see Jan Eliot's very nice non-partisan, but passionate comic-strip urging us all to VOTE! She does Stone Soup, a family comic that once featured her younger daughter enjoying the Nancy Pearl Librarian doll. Yay! Don't forget to vote! (Source: Out of the Jungle) Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100 669198 http://www.lisnews.org/titular_abridgement Planet Karen has a funny take on abridged versus unabridged books and the consequences of thinking too hard about them. The punchline to this is that I too have seen a book like this and had a similar thought. However, I turned into a librarian ages ago. Don't know what I'm talking about? Of course you don't, unless you read the comic. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:30:56 +0100 669191 http://lisnews.org/titular_abridgement Planet Karen has a funny take on abridged versus unabridged books and the consequences of thinking too hard about them. The punchline to this is that I too have seen a book like this and had a similar thought. However, I turned into a librarian ages ago. Don't know what I'm talking about? Of course you don't, unless you read the comic. (Source: LISNews.org) Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:30:56 +0100 668971 http://www.lisnews.org/goodnight_opus Today marked the last day of a well loved comic character and pop culture icon. Berkeley Breathed published his final Opus cartoon today and everybody's favourite penguin went out in a very literary tradition. And by "literary tradition," I mean "children's literary tradition." In cooperation with the Humane Society, Breathed published a final Sunday strip in newspapers with a link to see the last panel online at the Humane Society of the United States. Check the published strip via the link above, and then read the final panels. Truly heartwarming. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:35:51 +0100 669193 http://lisnews.org/goodnight_opus Today marked the last day of a well loved comic character and pop culture icon. Berkeley Breathed published his final Opus cartoon today and everybody's favourite penguin went out in a very literary tradition. And by "literary tradition," I mean "children's literary tradition." In cooperation with the Humane Society, Breathed published a final Sunday strip in newspapers with a link to see the last panel online at the Humane Society of the United States. Check the published strip via the link above, and then read the final panels. Truly heartwarming. (Source: LISNews.org) Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:35:51 +0100 668936 http://www.tangognat.com/2008/11/01/books-read-october-2008/ Books Raising Twins After the First Year: Everything You Need to Know About Bringing Up Twins - from Toddlers to Preteens by Karen Gottesman - This book was not very useful. The Talented Mr Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith I think I read another book or two, but I forgot to write them down. Manga and Graphic Novels Honey and Clover #2 Sugar Princess Skating to Win #1 Kyo Kara MAOH! #1 Make Love and Peace #1 Skip Beat #14 High School Debut #5 Tail of the Moon #12 Kitchen Princess #7 and #8 Shinobi Life #1 Black Jack#1 Boys over Flowers #31 Venus in Love #4 Nana #12 Her Majesty’s Dog #10 Death of Captain America #2 (Source: TangognaT) Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:01:09 +0100 668816 http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2008/11/goodnight-opus-and-goodbye.html When I was in college, Bloom County was my favourite comic in the newspaper (well, back then it was in our campus paper, not the city one). I loved the penguin Opus--as did a friend, to whom I gave a stuffed one one year. I am an initiate in the Bill the Cat society (I cannot give details of that moving ceremony, for it is most secret). Then Bloom County ended and life was sad.But then Opus returned in the eponymous comic strip, this time graduating up to the city paper. And Berkeley Breathed continued to entertain with his creations. But now the comic is retiring, and today was the last strip, and it went out in a way that made this librarian cry. (Okay, I cry at the drop of a hat, but still....)Be sure to see the last published strip, then go to the Humane Society's web page to see the last frame. Thanks Great Western Dragon from LISNews for the links. (Source: The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind) Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:00:00 +0100 669039 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LibrariansMatter/~3/439568925/ I’m liveblogging the next three days of this conference using CoverItLive. The programme is here. The window below has the conference keynotes over the next few  days. I am sharing liveblogging with Deborah Fitchett, so at other times, Deborah will have her own steam and I  will too. I will edit this post a little later with links and more sensible information… But for now….here’s the first speaker …Dylan Horrocks …Comics Laureate to the conference talking about : The rise and rise of the graphic novel: comics as a literary form. And here is the stream for me. Here are the sessions that Deborah is attending. Here is the stream from Kris . Here are the keynote sessions for the other days (more added as they happen): Monday 3 November Keynote Sessions. (Source: Librarians matter) Sun, 02 Nov 2008 01:58:44 +0100 669087 http://acrlog.org/2008/10/30/whos-counting-posts-anyway/ Over the last few months at MPOW we searched far and wide for just the right book for an event to commemorate the addition of the 3 millionth book to our collection. You know how these things work. It isn’t really the 3 millionth book. It’s a ceremonial representation of the 3 millionth book. You’d hardly want to build a campus event around your actual 3 millionth book, especially if it was something from the “For Dummies” series or a graphic novel. So we obtained a rather distinguished rare book upon which to develop a nice campaign to publicize our great collection and all the hard work that goes into building a common intellectual resource for an academic community. I suspect that many academic librarians take a “who’s counting” attitude, and just focus on the work at hand without much routine thought about the size of the collection. That’s how I’d describe my position on blog posts. Who’s counting? And until a few months ago I had no idea how many posts I’d written for ACRLog. But then one of our staff technical experts (ACRL spares no expense in supplying behind-the-scenes IT wizards to keep this blog operating at peak efficiency -right Kevin) said “Hey, we can add a side bar that gives the post count for each blogger.” I seem to recall it was there before I had a chance to chime in, but it certainly does offer a good way to quickly get to all the posts any one ACRLog blogger has written. If you should happen to have, oh, 20 or 30 hours where you have absolutely nothing to do and you want to read every post I’ve contributed to ACRLog, well, all I can say is here’s to better living through technology. But now that a running count of my posts was available I did take notice that I was closing in on number 400. Not that there’s anything particularly special about 400 posts. ... Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 667909 http://acrlog.org/2008/10/30/whos-counting-posts-anyway/ Over the last few months at MPOW we searched far and wide for just the right book for an event to commemorate the addition of the 3 millionth book to our collection. You know how these things work. It isn’t really the 3 millionth book. It’s a ceremonial representation of the 3 millionth book. You’d hardly want to build a campus event around your actual 3 millionth book, especially if it was something from the “For Dummies” series or a graphic novel. So we obtained a rather distinguished rare book upon which to develop a nice campaign to publicize our great collection and all the hard work that goes into building a common intellectual resource for an academic community. I suspect that many academic librarians take a “who’s counting” attitude, and just focus on the work at hand without much routine thought about the size of the collection. That’s how I’d describe my position on blog posts. Who’s counting? And until a few months ago I had no idea how many posts I’d written for ACRLog. But then one of our staff technical experts (ACRL spares no expense in supplying behind-the-scenes IT wizards to keep this blog operating at peak efficiency -right Kevin) said “Hey, we can add a side bar that gives the post count for each blogger.” I seem to recall it was there before I had a chance to chime in, but it certainly does offer a good way to quickly get to all the posts any one ACRLog blogger has written. If you should happen to have, oh, 20 or 30 hours where you have absolutely nothing to do and you want to read every post I’ve contributed to ACRLog, well, all I can say is here’s to better living through technology. But now that a running count of my posts was available I did take notice that I was closing in on number 400. Not that there’s anything particularly special about 400 posts. ... Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:42:41 +0100 668487 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=23053 A Study in Character Assassination: How the TV Networks Have Portrayed Sarah Palin as Dunce or Demon Source: Culture and Media Institute Apart from politicians embroiled in scandals, rarely have the public perceptions of a candidate soured so quickly. According to Pew Research Center polls from September and October, the percentage of the public that sees Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin unfavorably shot up from 32 percent to 49 percent in just one month. Why have so many Americans turned against Palin, who made such a strong impression on the public when John McCain introduced her as his running mate at the Republican convention in September? Most likely, it’s because the few good reports they’ve heard about the Alaska governor have been overwhelmed by a blizzard of bad reports. ABC, NBC and CBS news shows are covering Palin intensively, and they are running 18 negative stories for every positive one. Network coverage of Palin has moved beyond criticism to outright ridicule. Strikingly, all three networks have repeatedly aired clips of Palin being parodied by a comedy show, NBC’s Saturday Night Live, leading to concerns that many Americans are confusing the real Palin with SNL’s figure of fun. When have comic impressions of a political figure ever qualified as hard news? + Full Report (Source: Docuticker) Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:27:32 +0100 667786 http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2008/10/the-rule-of-rex-libris-comes-to-an-end.html Rex Libris, the popular library and librarian themed comic written by James Turner, has published its last issue.  The site had an official press release.  Lucky issue #13 is the end of the line.  If you're like me and have collected every comic, the bound book, the statue, the t-shirts, and the poster, you will be saddened.  Even if you aren't as collector-crazy as I am, it's still sad to see our librarian superhero depart.  If you want to get some last minute action check out the Rex Libris forum, the fun Rex website, and buy some Rex stuff if you ever want to (my guess is that it will sell out fairly quickly).  I will miss the sexy Hypatia and the salty Simonides.  And of course, goodbye to Rex.  We'll miss you. (Source: LibrarianInBlack) Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:47:41 +0100 667966 http://gnomicutterance.livejournal.com/28546.html Via Roger Sutton over at the Horn Book, here's an amazing link for those of us who are fans of both comics and children's literature: "Blotchmen". (Source: Ramblings on Librarianship, Technology, and Academia) Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:52:56 +0100 668174 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/436532722/ Animation would be just the ticket to spice up many a nonfiction book—especially textbooks on, say, physics or auto mechanics. E Ink earlier said this was a goal. And the video to the left demonstrates the advantages of such an approach in the AM300 developer’s kit. How much better to see tech in action than just read explanations! Newspaper angle The newspaper industry and others could also benefit from moving ads and other animations, particularly when color is available. The animation-color combo just might show up in E Ink machines costing less than $200, in the next five-ten years. In fact, we’d really be talking full-motion video—short movies, in other words. Granted, that’s a mere guess, but plausible; got any opinions of your own on this? And what about other technologies? Or the possibilities for cellphones? Or even low-power laptops and tablets with touch screens? Touch is already a feature of the new Sony Reader PRS-700, which uses E Ink and has a much faster refresh rate than earlier machines using similar technology. The big challenge will be for newspapers and others to show restraint and not overwhelm the readers with high-tech huckstery, which could lessen the joys of text. The fiction angle: I’m more excited about animation for nonfiction, but for what it’s worth, here’s information on a fiction-related video experiment at HarperCollins (not involving E Ink). It’s video of an author, not mere animation. But you can imagine animation as well—for, say, manga comics. Related: YouTube page, Engadget, earlier TeleRead items on E Ink Housekeeping: Yes, I’m back, but for only limited periods. We urgently need volunteers to do lively, well-informed posts and handle technical matters such as the back-office functions of WordPress. ... Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:10:02 +0100 667418 http://bibliotecarioanarquista.blogspot.com/2008/10/servio-de-aquisies-novidades-bd_30.html «Bd's autobiográficas de Marcos Farrajota, publicadas entre 1995 e 1997, nos números (esgotados) 6 ao 12 do Mesinha de Cabeceira, antecedentes ao É sempre demais... (Lx Comics #2, Bedeteca de Lisboa; 1998), apresentam o grosso da exploração da autobiografia no seu trabalho. Género esse pouco habitual em Portugal, mesmo depois do "boom" e da implosão da bd portuguesa, ao qual o autor acabou por subverter e abandonar gradualmente.E como na vida, há de tudo nestas bd's: sexo juvenil, amores de recorte Primavera/Verão, uso de drogas leves, vida suburbana em Cascais, relações sociais (envolvento desde vários autores de bd a músicos como os Primitive Reason), deambulações urbano-filosóficas de quem andava à toa, rapinanços de conteúdos alheios (Mão Morta, Julie Doucet, Einstürzende Neubauten, Madman) e participações alheias de amigos - como na bd Die Fliege II com textos de Miguel Caldas».Fonte: Central Comics FARRAJOTA, Marcos – Mercantologia 3: noitadas, deprês e bubas. Lisboa. Chili Com Carne, 2008.Público alvo: adultos em geral (Source: O bibliotecario anarquista) Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 668229 http://bclyaknow.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-music-for-october.html The chilly months of October / November - 'tis a time to discover new tunes and break out the old favorites. Let the BCL help you prep your holiday music wishlist with these exquisite selections. Aesop Rock - None Shall PassAesop Rock's beats and flow had been getting respect in the East Coast hip-hop world for years. None Shall Pass is his second album since emigrating west, but he hasn't lost any of his signature production or lyrical skills.Demi Lovato - Don't ForgetHave you played your Jonas Brothers albums to death? If so, here's your next big thing! Demi's album is produced by the bros., who also play instruments and sing on some of the tracks. They should require "Warning - may get stuck in your head" stickers for albums like this.Jessica Simpson - Do You KnowJessican Simpson has always blended country and dance music, but her newest album leans more in the country direction than anything before. It's those Texas roots, y'all.Metallica - Death MagneticMetallica are back to salvage their reputation after their 2003 album St. Anger and the Some Kind of Monster documentary! Fortunately, Death Magnetic has been getting rave reviews as a return to form. Fear not, metalheads - the guitar solos are back.MF Doom - Mm..Food?Some rappers have concept albums about bling, others about dystopic science fiction futures. MF Doom likes food and comic book supervillains! I can't argue with either of those choices, especially when the result is colorful, intelligent, creative hip-hop like this.Muse - Origin of SymmetryMuse are Stephenie Meyer's favorite band, and they might just be yours! Origin of Symmetry is part goth, part Radiohead and all passion. Find out why they're huge in England...and with the mind behind Bella Swan. ... Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 668495 http://super_librarian.blogspot.com/2008/10/welcome-to-real-world.html Two things that get on my last good nerve? Anonymous bloggers who are anonymous for the sole purpose of stirring up shit and people who think they're just oh so clever, oh so intelligent, and oh so better than the rest of us mindless, drooling peons.No, I'm not talking about the latest kerfuffle in Romance Bloglandia (although to my knowledge, there is no kerfuffle going on right now), I'm talking about some of my librarian brethren who need to shut their pie holes because they have no bloody clue what the hell they're talking about.So what has Wendy's panties in a bunch? Yet another useless discussion on how public libraries are bowing down to the lowest common denominator by offering up entertainment drivel to people who are too cheap to join Netflix, how we're determined to expose porn to the masses, and how we're responsible for the dumbing down of a generation because we offer video gaming programs in libraries. Public libraries should be all about education! And great literature! And intellectually building up the masses of humanity!Seriously, just shoot me now. It'll be tidier than waiting for my head to explode.This "debate" always annoys me because it tends to be started by 1) Librarians who should have retired 20 years ago 2) Librarians who have been locked in some academic ivory tower for the last 20 years and wouldn't know how a public library works today if it bit them in the ass or 3) all of the above.I tend to get annoyed by pointless discussions, and this one is beyond pointless. Want to know why? Well, your Auntie Wendy is here to tell you. Should libraries be all about the intellectual good? Or about puerile, mindless entertainment?Wait for it. Ready for the answer? Here it is....Both.A public library's sole purpose should not be one or the other. Libraries offer popular movies, video game programming, and entertaining genre fiction for one reason and one reason only. Ready for it? Here it goes..... ... Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 667599 http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/10/reading-and-book-buying-habits-of.html A while back I came across this survey of "The Reading and Book Buying Habits of Americans (note link is to a PDF of the complete report). The report is 13 pages, but it is mostly short questions with answers in terms of numbers, so rather easy to read. Some of the questions seemed amusing to me. So, allow me to look at the survey, put some snark into it, and while at it, take a chance to look at myself as a reader and book buyer. OK, those were fancy words for "I am commenting on the survey in a somewhat random fashion."First, there was the whole question about "American Dream Materialists" versus the "American Dream Spiritualists." I actually had to keep reading to find the definitions, but basically these are people who believe that material goods lead to the American Dream versus those who see it in more spiritual terms. They both believe it is possible to attain the dream. Given the current state of the nation, I initially reacted with a "what are those people smoking?" remark. Maybe I am a pessimist, or more likely a cynic, but unless some serious radical changes happen soon, that dream is nothing but a pipedream. However, I am digressing. The survey points out that American Dream Materialists are more likely to buy their books in hardcover. Me? I buy hardcover when it is on sale or remaindered. Otherwise, it's paperback because I need to save some money for one, plus my apartment is small, and it is easier to stack paperbacks than big hardcovers. Having said that, there are rare authors I like enough to pay the full 28 bucks or more for their books, but those are very rare. Plus I borrow as much as I can for books I want to read but not keep. But the survey has more on that, so let's move on.80% of the respondents said they do not plan on buying any special e-book reader. Only reason that factoid caught my eye is because my boss has a Kindle, and she pretty much swears by it. ... Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 667585 http://bibliotecarioanarquista.blogspot.com/2008/10/servio-de-aquisies-novidades-bd.html «A dupla Joss Whedon e John Cassaday apresenta o expolisivo retorno da principal equipa de super-heróis do universo Marvel no início de uma nova era para os extraordinarios X-Men».WHEDON, J.; CASSADAY, J. – O regresso. Lisboa. BD Mania, 2008. (Astonishing X-Men, 1).WHEDON, J.; CASSADAY, J. – Perigo. Lisboa. BD Mania, 2008. (Astonishing X-Men, 1).Público alvo: rapazes adolescentes e jovens adultosFonte: Central Comics (Source: O bibliotecario anarquista) Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 667537 http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/madreads/index.php/2008/10/28/fairytale-turned-upside-down/ I’m not generally a reader of graphic novels, though my associate at work is always trying to change that. However, I am a fan of the author Shannon Hale. So when a new book came across the desk by her I decided to take a look at it even though it was a graphic novel. Hale takes classic stories and themes in her books The Princess Academy and The Goose Girl, shakes them up, turns them sideways or upside down in order to look at the reality behind the fairy tale. And that is true also in this new book, Rapunzel’s Revenge. In Rapunzel’s Revenge Hale’s strong narrative style plus the wonderfully balanced use of humor to engage the reader, which I enjoy most in her books, is very evident. But in a way, it is the wonderful graphic story by Nathan Hale (no relation) which really ties the tale together. It’s all very well to say that Rapunzel has very long hair, but seeing it braided and used to lasso a wild pig, or to whip a gun out of an outlaw’s hand is unreal but great.  And setting the story in the wild, wild west is another winner.  Get this book and read it! (Source: MADreads) Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:02:28 +0100 666759 http://www.tangognat.com/2008/10/28/graphic-novels-in-academic-libraries/ Here’s an article in Publishers Weekly about graphic novels at Columbia University, “Comics Go to the Ivy League“ (Source: TangognaT) Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:18:20 +0100 666758 http://lovealibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/10/reading-writing-and-drawing-library.html The GS LRC, in coordination with the GS English Department whipped up an author-illustrator visit for the grade 7 students this morning. Fran Ong of Ilaw ng Tahanan Publishing worked it out with us to make the event possible. Award winning author, teacher, journalist, book reviewer and reading advocate, Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz shared with the boys, her life as a writer, her books and the long and tedious road to publication. Her session was filled with rich stories of more than 40 years of her writing history and personal experiences. At the same time, illustrator and digital artist Joel Chua, an alumnus of Xavier School (Batch 95), showed samples of his works, digital art works and published books. It was Joel's Home-School Communication Notebook (HSCN) that brought great interest to the boys since he used it as a sketch book/comic book cum school planner. Half of the pages contained school related information, schedules and list of "to do's" The other half were filled with his drawings - panels with drawings in different colors of ink.If Neni mentioned her diary as starting point to an illustrious writing career, Joel has his HSCN as seed bed for his artistic inclinations. Every person with a dream had to start somewhere. Who knows, one of the students who listened to Neni and Joel this morning may just begin a story or a drawing that could start of something big.Their sessions were enriched by writing and drawing activities done by the guest author and illustrator with the students. (Source: School Librarian in Action) Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:03:00 +0100 666624 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1205 This spring BookExpo America went all-out to let Unshelved readers know about their great show. Our readers were unanimous in their response: "You should have let us know sooner!" It seems that, the world of libraries and schools, time off work and budgets for conferences are often assigned many months in advance. That's why we're telling you in October about the a conference which takes place in May 2009. You can't say we didn't warn you. Click here to find out more about the country's biggest and most important book show, the one we call our favorite library conference, taking place in the land of my birth, New York City. Register today, or at least start whatever long process is required to get you there. P.S. You may recall that registrees to the 2008 conference were eligible for a number of cool prizes. One of those was appearances in an upcoming Unshelved comic strip. It seemed appropriate to roll those out this week. So please enjoy today's guest stars, Mr. Michael George and his amazing mustache! Michael also gets a free museum print of today's strip. Posted by Bill on 10/27/2008 11:14:00 AM (Source: Unshelved) Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:12:02 +0100 666333 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2008/oct/27/watchmen-alan-moore-dave-gibbons Dave Gibbons's preliminary designs and early sketches chart the development of the graphic novel classic, Watchmen (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:18:25 +0100 666266 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1203 Our thanks to this week's sponsor, Radical Comics, publisher Hercules:The Thracian Wars and Caliber: First Canon of Justice. Click here for more info (Adobe Reader required). Posted by Bill on 10/26/2008 9:42:00 PM (Source: Unshelved) Mon, 27 Oct 2008 06:02:02 +0100 666140 http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2008/10/the_gamer_stere.html OK - It's shocking! Study squashes myth of gamer as antisocial Comic Book Guy "Here are some of noteworthy findings of the study: 55 percent of gamers polled were married, 48 percent have kids, and new gamers – those who have started playing videogames in the past two years—are 32 years old on average More than 75 percent of videogamers play games with other people either online or in person More than 47 percent of people living in gaming households saying that videogames were a fun way to interact with other family members 37 percent of gamers said friends and family relied upon them to stay up-to-date about movies, TV shows and the latest entertainment news, compared to only 22 percent for nongamers 39 percent of gamers said that friends and family rely upon them to stay up-to-date about the latest technology In terms of hard dollars, the average gaming household income ($79,000) is notably higher than that of nongaming households ($54,000), but the value of the gamer as a marketing target can be seen in a variety of ways Gamers are 13 percent more likely to go out to a movie, 11 percent more likely to play sports, and 9 percent more likely to go out with friends than nongamers Gamers are twice as likely as nongamers to buy a product featuring new technology even if they are aware that there are still bugs Gamers are also twice as likely as nongamers to pay a premium for the newest technology on the market Gamers also consume media in different ways than nongamers, with hardcore gamers spending five more hours on the Internet, two more hours watching television and two more hours listening to music than nongamers per week And the counterintuitive kicker: Gamers are twice as likely to go out on dates as nongamers in a given month" IGN Entertainment, Ipsos MediaCT published the study entitled "Are You Game?". ... Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:27:37 +0100 666611 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ConversationalReading/~3/433449184/michael-hofmann.html Michael Hofmann has been noted for his translations from German to English (see his recent translations of Kafka and Bernhard for a couple examples of his better-known work). He apparently also translated a work by his father for New Directions a while back, and it's getting some positive notices from bloggers in Britain, where it's recently been released. The book seems to thrive on the use of two widely maligned and misunderstood novelistic devices: pedophilia and exclamation marks:Lichtenberg himself investigates: “He made some extraordinary discoveries that later all turned out to be wrong.” Yet for all his interest in the outside world, it is Lichtenberg’s ability to look in on himself which gives the book balance. He has self-awareness enough to know his physical limitations: four feet nine inches, hunchbacked, with “awful teeth,” lying about his age (”My poor spirit happens to have been poured into a miserable vessel”). However he lacks understanding of social mores and falls in love with a thirteen-year-old flower seller (22 years his junior): “a girl had ‘crawled into him, and was spreading out’.” Hofmann’s task here is to prevent Lichtenberg from seeming like a sexual predator, to maintain the reader’s compact with this charming man. This is as significant an achievement as Nabokov’s ability to gain sympathy for Humbert in the closing chapters of Lolita. In fact it is more significant: Hofmann has balanced the tone of the story delicately so far largely through a wild overuse of exclamation marks, which results in an inversion of the usual rules. Now a full stop, relatively rare, seems to be making a dramatic point.Someone should interview Hoffmann about translating a work by your father with a pedophile protagonist. See also Stephen Mitchelmore on this same book:Gert Hofmann on the other hand can be safely compared with many other great writers; though not perhaps Nabokov and Proust. ... Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 666821 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/oct/27/romantic-fiction-gender As genre-crossing goes, it's rather a delicious example. Chris Ryan, former SAS soldier and author of 13 military thrillers with titles such as Zero Option, Hunted, Ultimate Weapon, and, most recently, Firefight ("A terrorist attack. A killer on the loose. And a final, desperate mission ... Former SAS Captain Tom Jackson is a man with nothing to lose"), is to publish a romantic novel. But here's the particularly delicious bit - he has written The Fisherman's Daughter under a female pseudonym, Molly Jackson.Multitudinous women have written as men, simply in order to be taken seriously, but men writing as women is pretty unusual. Peter O'Donnell, who created the comic strip character Modesty Blaise, wrote historical romances under the name Madeleine Brent; Voltaire occasionally published as Une belle dame or Catherine Vadé; and L Frank Baum, he of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, wrote stories for girls as Edith Van Dyne. But there aren't many more.Presumably, having been in the SAS (Ryan was sniper team commander of the anti-terrorist team and received the Military Medal for surviving the longest escape and evasion in the service's history) confers a certain adaptability, but Ryan doesn't seem to have taken to the family saga romance/genre all that readily: "I tend to stick to a subject that I'm comfortable with," he admitted at a recent booksigning, "but I wanted to see if I could do a classic family saga." The novel is set in a remote Scottish village and tells the story of a man searching for a father he never knew. Along the way he meets with hostility and a villager with her sights set on him (for once, they're not of the telescopic variety). Ryan added, "It took me two years to get it right." Which was evidently rather painful. "I won't be doing it again. If it taught me something, it was don't go out of your comfort zone, so I think I'll stick to writing about what I know. ... Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:11:07 +0100 666094 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1202 My friends Dave, Scott, Kris, and Brad have started a new website called webcomics.com devoted to exploring the innards of webcomics. They asked me to contribute an article on niche comics, and so I jotted down my conflicting thoughts on whether or not Unshelved qualifies as such here. I'll be responding to questions posted as comments there. Posted by Bill on 10/24/2008 9:01:00 AM (Source: Unshelved) Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:26:03 +0100 665223 http://centeredlibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/10/librarian-fined-500-for-plugging.html For 39 years as an educator, Robert Grandt has been promoting other people’s books. So this year, when his daughter helped create a graphic novel of Macbeth of which he was mighty proud, Mr. Grandt could not resist bragging a little in the newsletter he distributes as librarian at Brooklyn Technical High School.He also placed a few copies of the book at a library display table, and posted a sign: “Best Book Ever Written.” If someone was interested, they got a book free.On Monday, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board announced it had settled a case it had brought against Mr. Grandt for promoting his daughter’s work. He agreed to pay a $500 fine and admit in a three-page stipulation that he had violated the city ethics code.Thanks to BoingBoingStory here (Source: The Centered Librarian) Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 665761 http://northmetrotechlibraryatacworth.blogspot.com/2008/10/our-subject-is-not-death-or-evil.html our Subject is the law. "And that is how “Bound by Law? Tales from the Public Domain” begins. The print version has arrived and is on the shelf- maybe not for long since Jeff told the faculty about its existence.The Afterword, which is subtitled "Why Three Stodgy Academics Wrote a Comic Book", has a sentence that made me smile broadly:"For some strange reason, none of our intended audiences seem eager to read scholarly law review articles." In fact, I laughed as I finished reading the afterword - the law is serious but this book makes copyright understandable and even enjoyable. I might even enjoy these academics law classes if they teach the way they share copyright information.-klsView from the Library maintained by The Librarian at North Metro Technical College c2006 (Source: View from the library) Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 665121 http://www.uptowngirlcomic.com/ "Let's go back to that weird kid with the helmet to get our lemonade." Uptown Girl Comics (Source: future of the book news) Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:56:15 +0100 664592 http://thezinemachine.blogspot.com/ Catch up with the fast moving underworld of zines at the ZineMachine. Zinesters are steam punkers and real squares, living in little cardboard art factories and wandering streets lit by flickering screens. Their adventure comics tell the story. (Source: future of the book news) Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:18:07 +0100 664560 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/interactive/2008/oct/16/posy-simmonds-tamara-drewe Posy Simmonds talks about the origins of Tamara Drewe and the processes by which she ends up on the printed page (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:40:35 +0100 664550 http://www.lisnews.org/librarian_has_pay_fee_being_proud_father From the New York Times... Parental pride has had a significant cost for a Brooklyn high school librarian. Robert Grandt was charged a $500 fee as a punishment for promoting his daughter's graphic novel on the job. Grandt says he only meant to show how proud he was by highlighting his daughter's first book, an adaptation of "Macbeth" that she co-illustrated. Grandt promoted the book in a newsletter he distributes as a librarian at Brooklyn Technical High School [my son's alma mater] and gave out free copies. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:25:35 +0100 664918 http://lisnews.org/librarian_has_pay_fee_being_proud_father From the New York Times... Parental pride has had a significant cost for a Brooklyn high school librarian. Robert Grandt was charged a $500 fee as a punishment for promoting his daughter's graphic novel on the job. Grandt says he only meant to show how proud he was by highlighting his daughter's first book, an adaptation of "Macbeth" that she co-illustrated. Grandt promoted the book in a newsletter he distributes as a librarian at Brooklyn Technical High School [my son's alma mater] and gave out free copies. (Source: LISNews.org) Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:25:35 +0100 664216 http://www.goblin-cartoons.com/2008/10/22/bean-juice/ I’ve been as skeptical as anyone about the upcoming Watchmen movie. Maybe I’ve been burned too many times, but I just don’t trust Hollywood to make a superhero movie, especially adapting an actual comic book story, without screwing it up. But with that in mind, I have to admit, the footage I’ve seen looks pretty amazing. I really hope it doesn’t turn out to suck. (Source: the goblin in the library) Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:56:53 +0100 664338 http://www.tangognat.com/2008/10/22/amethyst-princess-of-gemworld-6-second-series/ I thought the last issue dragged a bit probably because it was split between so many competing story lines. In contrast, this issue moved forward at a nice clip and we learn who the tall dark handsome green-cloaked man stalking Citrina is! The cover of this issue features Amethyst and Sardonyx reflected in the Well of Vision. They look rather anxious! Amethyst has a reason to look worried because it looks like a boa constrictor is wrapping itself around her. The text on the cover says “Deadly Reflections!” The actual title of this issue is “Secrets of the Sands.” Amy and Emmy are talking in their bedroom on Earth. Amy is frustrated because she can’t get herself to fall asleep. She feels like she has to get back to the Gemworld to help Citrina. Emmy decides to sing Amy a song to help her relax. Mrs and Mr Winston wake up. Mrs Winston wants to run to check on Amy, but Mr Winston stops her, saying that they agreed to trust Amy and “she knows that she can always come to us when she’s ready.” Mrs Winston is a little hysterical, “Only if she’s here, Herb….Only if she’s still on Earth!” Emmy’s song did the trick and Amy falls asleep. The spirit-form of Amethyst leaves her body and journeys to the Gemworld. (click to make the images bigger) Amethyst stands on top of her castle surveying the terrible storms that are raging across the Gemworld. She spots a golden glow at the edge of the grounds. It is Sardonyx trying to hack his way through the protective foliage. Unfortunately it seems that Citrina has quite a green thumb and the plants are resisting his assault. Sardonyx clears a path with the golden claw. Amethyst goes to confront Sardonyx. ... Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:22:42 +0100 664055 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DrwebsDomain/~3/428780753/join-us-in-san.html Join Us In San Diego Thursday For The Geek Bonfire - Digital Life Blog - InformationWeek. Join Us In San Diego Thursday For The Geek Bonfire Posted by Mitch Wagner, Oct 21, 2008 05:09 PM If you're in San Diego on Thursday, join us for soft drinks, snacks, and networking at the San Diego Geek Bonfire Meetup. It's open to IT managers, programmers, social networking addicts, Web entrepreneurs, science fiction fans, comic fans, gamers -- anybody who's into nerdy activities or who likes talking with people who enjoy those things. We'll have chips and soft drinks on hand for refreshment, and an actual bonfire, too (what, you thought we were kidding about the bonfire thing?). It starts Thursday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m., at the bonfire area at Mission Bay Park. More details and directions on our Meetup page. No fees, nothing to bring but yourself.Your hosts for this event are Gina Trapani, editor of the blog Lifehacker, and me. We had more than 40 people at the last Geek Bonfire in August, and everybody seemed to have a great time. Geeks, bonfire, water, good people.. what's not to love? ... (Source: DrWeb's Domain) Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 665134 http://lisnews.org/cooperative_village_one_woman_show When Frances finds a body in the laundry room of her building in the Lower East Side's Cooperative Village, it sets in motion a bizarrely comic yet terrifying chain of events. As Frances careens, dead body in tow, from laundry room to living room to library, she becomes a victim of Library Card Identity Theft (LCIT) and comes under scrutiny of the US Government. For everyone who has ever wondered, not if Big Brother is watching, but how closely... (Source: LISNews.org) Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:02:00 +0100 664159 http://www.infotogo.com/users/index.asp?RSS=31606 Build your own Garfield comic strip. (Source: Info To Go: Navigating the Internet) Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:01:00 +0100 663531 http://www.infotogo.com/users/index.asp?RSS=31605 "Stripcreator is a web site that allows users to create and save their own comic strips." (Source: Info To Go: Navigating the Internet) Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:00:00 +0100 663532 http://www.unshelved.com/blog.aspx?post=1198 We have a new sponsor this week: Radical Comics, publisher of several titles including Hercules:The Thracian Wars and Caliber: First Canon of Justice. The latter is particularly interesting - an updating of the Athurian legend in the setting of the American Northwest. Excalibur has become a six-shooter named "Caliber." Anyway, they've collected them into 144-page hardcovers, perfect for hard-living library readers. Click here for more info (Adobe Reader required). Posted by Bill on 10/20/2008 10:46:00 AM (Source: Unshelved) Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:37:02 +0100 663309 http://allthingsamy.blogspot.com/2008/10/librarian-graphic-novel.html My favorite reporter George sent me this link to "The Night Bookmobile," a graphic novel by Audrey Niffenegger that's been appearing in the Guardian newspaper since late May. The chapters are listed in reverse chronological order, so start at the bottom of page 2 and work your way back to page 1. (Source: All Things Amy) Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100 663642 http://instructionwiki.org/Talk:OSU_Libraries_Research_Log/